Excerpt
Excerpt: President Bush has made plain from the start that the war on terrorism will be long and large. What he seems reluctant to admit is that it will also be expensive. Since September 11, the United States has routed the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan, committed thousands of troops to assist in the fight against terror groups in the Philippines, Georgia, and elsewhere, and stationed aircraft in Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Bulgaria. The U.S. military presence in the Persian Gulf has been strengthened, and preparations for the destruction of Saddam Hussein?s regime and some sort of democratic reconstruction in Iraq are underway. In case the Saudis won?t cooperate, alternate airfields and command centers are being readied in Turkey and the Gulf emirates.